In the domestic arts, when foods are to be cooked with steam, use is often made of a pressure cooker consisting of a pot and a cover affixed to the pot by air-tight closing means comprising, in addition, a tightening device so that it can resist pressure.
Cooking with pressurized steam in a closed container leads to numerous stresses. Thus, it is impossible to control the cooking of foods without going through decompression and opening of the container and therefore without increasing the cooking time. Furthermore, this cooking method requires constant attention during cooking and upon decompression. Finally, the fact that it is necessary to use a pressure resistant container leads to a heavy, expensive, bulky apparatus which is difficult to store and whose cleaning is tedious.
A food heating apparatus is also known through British patent No. 1 092 283 which comprises a container closed with a cover which can be connected to a source of steam. In order for the food placed in the container to be cooked slowly, these devices require a large quantity of steam whose energy is, for the most part, unused and which escapes to the outside or condenses on the walls of the container.
French patent application No. 2 396 927 relates to an apparatus comprising a boiler discharging steam into a cooking enclosure. The steam, mixed with air heated to 95.degree. C., condenses onto the foods but also onto the walls of the enclosure so that a substantial part of its heat is lost and the energy efficiency is high.
The objects of the invention is to provide a steam injection cooking apparatus operating at atmospheric pressure using closed containers with covers that are set down and which can be connected to a steam source, which uses a small amount of energy and do not have the drawbacks of pressure cookers and provides a cooking method which is clean, convenient and danger free, thus making it possible for an operator not only to control cooking in a regular manner but also to associate a different cooking method with pressure cooking.